Toxic Plants, Their Importance for Humans and Animals

Code:

MI244172

Acronym:

PTIHA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Health Sciences

Instance: 2024/2025 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	https://moodle2425.up.pt/course/view.php?id=1569
Responsible unit:	Pharmacognosy Laboratory
Course/CS Responsible:	MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MICF	76	MICF - Transition Study Plan 2023/24 - 2024/25 - 2025/26	4	-	1,5	13	40,5

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

In the plant kingdom there are potentially 300 000 species, so the toxic effects of plants act as a defense mechanism against natural predators.

 

Plant toxins are secondary metabolites of plants that occur naturally in foods, feeds, weeds and ornamental plants and their chemical diversity is astonishing.

 

For a health professional (human or animal) it is increasingly important to have in-depth knowledge about toxic plants (from their botanical identification to antidotes (when available) and respective treatment).

Learning outcomes and competences

Working method

Presencial

Program

1-Toxic plant concept

 

2-Circumstances of plant poisoning (both for humans and animals).

 

 2.1. By contact

 

 2.2. By ingestion

 

3-The main classes of toxic compounds from plants:

 

 3.1_Characteristic nucleus;

 

 3.2_Most common methods of chemical analysis;

 

4-Examples of the most toxic plants:

 

 4.1_Chemical composition;

 

 4.2_Mechanisms of toxicity;

 

 4.3_Intoxication symptoms;

 

 4.4_ Treatment

Mandatory literature

ESCO working group; European Food Safety Authority;Compendium of botanicals that have been reported to contain toxic, addictive, psychotropic or other substances of concern on request of EFSA. EFSA Journal 2009; 7(9):281, EFSA, 2009
John B. Watkins, III ; Chapter 26: Toxic Effects of Plants and Animals;In Casarett & Doull’s Essentials of Toxicology, 3ed. , Curtis D. Klaassen, John B. Watkins III, 2015

Teaching methods and learning activities

The curricular unity is included in the Moodle e-learning Platform provided by the UP Rectory's Office of Support for New Technologies in Education.

 

Thus, all support material for the CU will be made available there, and a forum, chat and e-mail will also be available, which will allow the subject to be approached from a different perspective than theoretical classes.

Theoretical teaching:

Presentation in a “data show” (“power point”) and prior distribution of presentations to students via the e-learning platform.

 

Theoretical-practical teaching:

Concrete case studies will be presented and discussed that will help the student to develop their monograph.

keywords

Health sciences
Health sciences > Pharmacological sciences > Toicology
Health sciences > Pharmacological sciences > Toicology > Poisoning
Health sciences > Pharmacological sciences > Pharmacognosy
Health sciences > Medical sciences > Veterinary medicine > Animal toxicology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Exame	65,00
Trabalho escrito	35,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	17,50
Frequência das aulas	13,00
Trabalho escrito	10,00
Total:	40,50

Eligibility for exams

Students’ attendance at theoretical classes is not mandatory.
Students' attendance at theoretical-practical classes is mandatory, with students whose attendance is less than 75% of the scheduled classes being considered as having no attendance.

Calculation formula of final grade

Classification improvement